Coping through avoidance may explain gender disparities in anxiety

Panayiotou, Georgia; Karekla, Maria; Leonidou, Chrysanthi

doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2017.04.005

Cited by 69 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The unequal numbers of mothers and fathers in this study limits inferences that can be drawn from the observed findings, and precluded subsequent analyses. Previous research that has aimed to assess differences between mothers and fathers reported that women experienced greater anxiety, avoidant coping, and experiential avoidance than men (Panayiotou et al (2017). Parental gender may interact with the observed relationships in the current study, given previous research demonstrating differential relationships between parental control and child anxiety by parent gender and child age (Verhoeven et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

The Role of Experiential Avoidance and Parental Control in the Association Between Parent and Child Anxiety

2019

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Parenting behavior and practices contribute to the intergenerational relationship between parent and child anxiety, with parental control being a consistent predictor of child anxiety. Parental experiential avoidance refers to how a parent copes with their internal world in the context of parenting. Little is known about how this relatively new parenting concept relates to child anxiety. The current study tested the indirect effect of parent anxiety on child anxiety through parental control and parental experiential avoidance; the indirect effect of parent anxiety on parental control through parental experiential avoidance; and the moderating effect of parental experiential avoidance on the relationship between parental control and child anxiety. Using a cross-sectional design, parents ( N = 85) from a community sample of 8–12-year-old children self-reported on a survey measuring parent anxiety, child anxiety, parental control, and parental experiential avoidance. A hierarchical regression indicated that parental experiential avoidance significantly predicted child anxiety and accounted for further variance in child anxiety, over, and above parental control. There was an indirect effect of parent anxiety on child anxiety through parental control and parental experiential avoidance. Parental experiential avoidance moderated the relationship between parental control and child anxiety, such that the relationship was only significant at high levels of parental experiential avoidance. The current study provides support for the role of parental experiential avoidance in an intergenerational understanding of anxiety. Future research should replicate the study with a clinical sample. Theoretical and practice implications are considered.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

The Role of Experiential Avoidance and Parental Control in the Association Between Parent and Child Anxiety

2019

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“…Female students may experience an earlier adaptive period as their STEM anxiety increases, resulting in a compensatory mechanism that downregulates the anxiety–brain correlations, possibly via a reallocation of neural resources or a functional reorganization of anxiety-related systems. Overall, it is unclear if the sex differences in functional connectivity observed here reflect experiential differences in STEM anxiety-related developmental trajectories due to disruptions in emotion regulation, 56 attentional control, 57–59 motivation and drive, 60–62 disengagement and avoidance, 63 coping strategy 64 , or a combination of these influences. Further work is needed to investigate sex differences in developmental STEM trajectories to determine if female students experience STEM-related anxiety and learn strategies for counterbalancing their anxiety at an earlier educational stage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Sex differences in brain correlates of STEM anxiety

et al. 2019

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Anxiety is known to dysregulate the salience, default mode, and central executive networks of the human brain, yet this phenomenon has not been fully explored across the STEM learning experience, where anxiety can impact negatively academic performance. Here, we evaluated anxiety and large-scale brain connectivity in 101 undergraduate physics students. We found sex differences in STEM-related and clinical anxiety, with longitudinal increases in science anxiety observed for both female and male students. Sex-specific relationships between STEM anxiety and brain connectivity emerged, with male students exhibiting distinct inter-network connectivity for STEM and clinical anxiety, and female students demonstrating no significant within-sex correlations. Anxiety was negatively correlated with academic performance in sex-specific ways at both pre- and post-instruction. Moreover, math anxiety in male students mediated the relation between default mode-salience connectivity and course grade. Together, these results reveal complex sex differences in the neural mechanisms driving how anxiety is related to STEM learning.

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“…), in the context of the level of their social competences increases the tendency to use coping strategies , which use elements of situational control and allow to maintain a positive image of oneself as a capable and strong individual (compare Eisler & Blalock, 1991;Lipińska-Grobelny, 2011). It also seems that greater social competences in men (which are in a certain contradiction with the stereotype of men as less socially capable compared with women) significantly increase the preference of evasive coping strategies, which tend to be used more by women (Endler & Parker, 1990;Panayiotou, Karekla, & Leonidou, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In women, a stronger positive association was observed between the guilt reassessment and devaluation strategy and reflexibility, and between the control strategy and social orientation, and finally a stronger negative association between the negative strategy and social orientation. It appears that women are more sensitive to interpersonal aspects of their lives and functioning and that their stronger social orientation and more active and prosocial way of functioning combined with greater support by the environment gives women enough strength and supports their willingness to resolve stressful situations in an active way, and strengthens their self-confidence and belief in active resolving of a situation (compare Matud, 2004;Panayiotou et al, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%